Day off highly benefitial to gelling Sounders

In all of the preparations for the 2014 MLS season and the excitement surrounding all of the new faces on the Sounders FC roster, it was almost difficult to find a day off during the club’s preseason trip to Charleston, SC. After a match in the Carolina Challenge Cup on Saturday and another for those that didn’t play on Sunday against the College of Charleston, Seattle Head Coach Sigi Schmid gave the team Monday off.

“Sometimes you get on these trips and you lose track of time – you lose track of what day of the week it is, in fact. You want to make sure you don’t forget that because part of being able to push forward is recovering at the right time,” Schmid said. “It was good. I think the guys needed a day away. Yesterday’s off day was good for them and good for the staff. Everybody comes out a little refreshed. I think training today, what we wanted to accomplish we were able to do that.”

After a day filled with rest, relaxation and a little bit of team bonding, the Sounders returned to training on Tuesday and now are ready for the home stretch of the Charleston trip.

“It was nice to get away and do some team bonding. Preseason is always pretty hectic and a lot of work so it’s good to get away for a day,” midfielder Andy Rose said. “But then when you come back you can be a bit stiff, so it was good to get a good training in.”

In addition to giving players a bit of a rest after a busy weekend, the day off on Monday also allowed for a few players battling injuries to ease their way back to regular training.

DeAndre Yedlin, Djimi Traore and Leo Gonzalez all sat out Saturday’s 2-1 win over the Charleston Battery, with only Gonzalez among those three seeing time against the College of Charleston on Sunday.

Yedlin and Traore both trained in full on Tuesday, but Schmid indicated that Traore wasn’t likely to play on Wednesday against the Houston Dynamo.

Sounders FC will finish out the Charleston trip against D.C. United on Saturday before returning to Seattle on Sunday. The 2014 MLS season kicks off with Seattle hosting the MLS Cup champions Sporting Kansas City on March 8 at CenturyLink Field.